Is venison worth putting on your plate?

Olaf

Well-Known Member
I love to hunt, i will continue to do so for as long as my life allows, however: Is the final bounty of venison worth all the effort ?
 
Yes.
Not just for the meat itself but for it being far more humane than buying supermarket meat, plus the exercise, experience, views, psychological boost & a dozen other reasons.
I eat the fish I catch, the birds I shoot (well; the edible ones...), the bunnies I bag & once I get this year over, I'll be growing my own veg again too.
 
100% As above, not only the meat but everything else that goes with it. If you shoot it, clean and inspect, butcher and cook then you know exactly what you've got and how it got there on your plate. My freezers always well stocked up be it venison, fowl or fish.
 
One pic = a 1000 words.

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I love to hunt, i will continue to do so for as long as my life allows, however: Is the final bounty of venison worth all the effort ?
Is this some kind of trick question?:???:
Venison is very expensive as it is one of the healthiest meats available!
Go figure its value - but this seems a daft question?
Market value and availability will answer your question!
MS
 
I eat venison about 3 - 4 times a week. It is a staple of my diet.(My favorite dish) Granted, I have no expense involved other then a $17 hunting license. I don't have to pay anyone to hunt on their property, either. All that in play adds to yes. Well worth it.~Muir
 
I can visualize the meat of deer, moose, bear sizzling in bacon grease with garlic and rosemary even as I see them in my sights! Essential for my family's diet.
 
absolutely worth it, the direct connection to healthy food is a big factor in the enjoyment I get from hunting, whether venison, rabbit, pheasant, duck fish etc.
 
I agree with all above, but I can add the feeling of accomplishment I have is massive when I'm providing free steaks, roasts and burgers to friends and family from my venison.
 
Is this some kind of trick question?:???:
Venison is very expensive as it is one of the healthiest meats available!
Go figure its value - but this seems a daft question?
Market value and availability will answer your question!
MS

no, it’s not a trick question or daft. I’m interested to know how much of a value people put on the venison they can have from hunting. I process venison in many different ways and eat it most days of the week, indeed, aside from liking it, i can’t afford to buy other quality meats very often. I’m making a 20kg batch of venison salami later today, I personally keep and use as much venison as I can realistically handle, the rest sadly ,goes off to the game dealer for the paltry £3 per kg they offer.
Im just always amazed by how many people I meet or know that just seem to stalk and shoot deer and then leave it for the game dealer, they are only interested in a picture and maybe some antlers or the pathetic payment from a game dealer.

Kindest regards, Olaf
 
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Yes - I see your point
I eat a lot of the venison I shoot and sell or give away the rest
For me with work it’s an extra effort to chill, butcher and store the meat
Also the cooking can prove a little trickier as it’s mostly fat free
But I’ve noticed some people don’t want the carcass after they’ve shot it and perhaps not having a chiller or the time means they don’t get to appreciate eating what they shoot. They’re glad to be given venison that’s ready to cook though
 
At the risk of seeming sanctimonious, eating the game or fish that we kill is what makes it morally acceptable to do so, fundamentally. Now obviously there are practical limitations to how much meat people can deal with, store, process, eat, etc, and it's fine to make sure that it's eaten by someone else. The animals don't care who eats them either. But somehow, I think if you just kill things without eating any of the product, you're not taking responsibility for your actions. Killing an animal isn't anodyne. No-one is forcing you to pull the trigger. If you're not going to eat it or make sure someone else does, do you really need to kill it?

Cards on the table, I never have the problem of having so much game that I can't eat it as I don't shoot much, and I have avoided shooting the larger deer as I can't deal with them. But neither would I turn down the opportunity as a sort of treat if you like. It's not set in stone.

Beyond the moral aspect, it's lovely, and it's a whole additional adventure learning to cook with venison and different types of game, and it is with no contest at all the best PR for hunting in the world to feed your friends and family the products of your efforts!

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Last night's Stalker's Pie!
 
PM, that seems a bit of a limited argument to me. Most don't bat an eyelid at pest control for agriculture or even to protect gardens. But an animal is still losing its life. And if it's for a garden, what purpose does that serve other than human enjoyment? So what difference is there morally between enjoying the garden and the hunt?

Personally, I think people enjoy what they do and if an animal has to die to permit that enjoyment most humans think "so be it" and refuse to think more deeply. Those that do, and still countenance the killing of creatures, often try to rationalise what they do e.g. "it's OK if we eat it". Personally I think this moral absolute position is taken to stop people having to think about their actions and their place in nature, and doesn't really bear much scrutiny, although it is a useful propaganda starting point.

As I've thought about this more over the last few years, I've started to go a bit wobbly with driven shooting. Either that or I'm just getting soft in my old age.
 
PM, that seems a bit of a limited argument to me. Most don't bat an eyelid at pest control for agriculture or even to protect gardens. But an animal is still losing its life. And if it's for a garden, what purpose does that serve other than human enjoyment? So what difference is there morally between enjoying the garden and the hunt?

You're right, it's incomplete, it's a necessary but insufficient condition if you like. It makes no difference to an animal why you kill it and whether or not you eat it. But it makes a difference to people. I mean we've all met people who don't take any pheasants after a shoot, or who catch sea fish on charter boats and don't take any, and it sits badly with many of us, even if we may sometimes have done it ourselves. And beyond us, it's important to the vast majority of people who do not kill any of their own food.

As I've thought about this more over the last few years, I've started to go a bit wobbly with driven shooting. Either that or I'm just getting soft in my old age.

It's not the driving, it's the unnatural numbers of reared birds bred just to be shot that are uncomfortable. It's more akin to poultry farming than fieldsports sometimes. You have to ask yourself whether there's a very solid justification for breeding millions of pheasants that no-one wants to eat just for the fun of shooting them. And is shooting fifty pheasants any more fun than shooting two or three?
 
Bottom line it’s all been said above
With the various food scares in last few years it’s apparent that lot goes on we do not hear about
Also the argument that as whole world. We consume too much meat and that demand drives intensive poor practices ... balanced healthy diet
We all heard it before
Now consider the health of going getting your own .... we are too sedentary as a species now
So healthy getting it , healthy eating it and mentally your working away processing it etc
& of course you know what your getting ......
I’ll go as far as to say if your not eating it don’t shoot it
Unless it’s your profession or pest control etc

Paul
 
Is it worth it? Yes of course! But you can't always justify it financially.
All of the meat l and my family eat is killed by myself, and if there's no mutton in the freezer then venison makes a reasonable second choice!
 
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